Reality Check

[sleslie23]

First of all i would consider having a car in this city as a drawback more than as a plus unless you live far away or you have family in with case you would probably need it but he is alone i don't think a car in this city add any value to your life standar it will add a stress but i supose depend on the person i don't like the idea of having a car in this city anyway, second 2 k between pharmacy and medical insurance lol really? what are you 90 years old, i barely use if i use more than 100 pesos in a given month and normally the medical plan my company pays make that ammount even smaller in pharmacy at my age and medical insurance is not needed as one of the working benefit that your company will pay for you is a more than adecuate medical insurance for you, and as he mention he is going to work in here.

Anyway i agree with the rest of the expenses, the rent depend on if he want to live alone or he want to share a department (that depend on how social you are and how you like to live, alone or live with other people), but i supose the diference in perception come with our diference of age here, what is well for me even when i consider that i live prety well and travel abroad a lot, probably is not that well for you at your age, and the use and expenses depend as well alot on your given age and if you have or not family.

I'd like to see the break down of your expenses if you are earning ~12k per month and traveling abroad a lot. That may have been true 3 years ago, but I don't buy it in today's economic climate.

 

[JamJam]

12k is fine for a single person here. My only problem is my I blow it all in a parrilla on pay day.

Once you have kids you have to stop eating bife chorizo and start downgrading to lomo, before you know it your eating choripan every day.

 

[syngirl]

We basically spend 12K pesos per month for the four of us. More or less we spend 2500 in kindergarten, 3500 in supermarket, 800-1000 in utilities, cable&internet, security surveillance, 500-1000 in transportation and the rest is to enjoy. We have medical cover by my job. We have no car (could not drive in BsAs). Our largest single expenditure in Argentina (except for tickets but for those we use our international salary) is "Bienes Personales" tax in April/May each year.
We really do not try to save any pesos and when there is a surplus we travel in Argentina.

As I said, the trips back home come from our international work. We buy almost all our cloth back home as BsAs is not a good deal in general for clothing.

Yes this makes sense 100% to me. Our expenses are similar, bit cheaper daycare (2000 for 8hrs) and soon much cheaper transport as husband is getting company car so they'll foot bill there (and will pay rent on the garage, 700 pesos/mo saved there). Our rent is pretty much what kills any hope of savng what's left over of husband's local salary (we do same, try not to touch foreign income, though there's not a tonne of it right now).

 

[Rich One]

First of all i would consider having a car in this city as a drawback more than as a plus unless you live far away or you have family in with case you would probably need it but he is alone i don't think a car in this city add any value to your life standar it will add a stress but i supose depend on the person i don't like the idea of having a car in this city anyway, second 2 k between pharmacy and medical insurance lol really? what are you 90 years old, i barely use if i use more than 100 pesos in a given month and normally the medical plan my company pays make that ammount even smaller in pharmacy at my age and medical insurance is not needed as one of the working benefit that your company will pay for you is a more than adecuate medical insurance for you, and as he mention he is going to work in here.

Anyway i agree with the rest of the expenses, the rent depend on if he want to live alone or he want to share a department (that depend on how social you are and how you like to live, alone or live with other people), but i supose the diference in perception come with our diference of age here, what is well for me even when i consider that i live prety well and travel abroad a lot, probably is not that well for you at your age, and the use and expenses depend as well alot on your given age and if you have or not family.

Owing a car is a benefit to travel on weekends on short trips, or if you are self employed, or retired to travel a piacere, not for city use, The beaches . estancias, etc.

Pharmacy expenses include toiletries, shaving supplies, medications, etc. ( i.e. Razor blades monthly expense is $200 @ $7 each ). One medication alone is worth $230 per month.
Some are lucky to be provided with company health insurance coverage, unless you are in NEGRO..!!

For general information the medical insurance coverage plan from Hospital Aleman, for individuals over 60 yo. Two options:
$5166 or $ 6706 per month . Figures provided to me today in person at the Hospital! 02/19/2013.

Expenses may vary for various age groups, family composition, and employment benefits.

 

[lamarque]

Owing a car is a benefit to travel on weekends on short trips, or if you are self employed, or retired to travel a piacere, not for city use, The beaches . estancias, etc.

Pharmacy expenses include toiletries, shaving supplies, medications, etc. ( i.e. Razor blades monthly expense is $200 @ $7 each ). One medication alone is worth $230 per month.
Some are lucky to be provided with company health insurance coverage, unless you are in NEGRO..!!

For general information the medical insurance coverage plan from Hospital Aleman, for individuals over 60 yo. Two options:
$5166 or $ 6706 per month . Figures provided to me today in person at the Hospital! 02/19/2013.

Expenses may vary for various age groups, family composition, and employment benefits.

Ok but we are talking of a normal work in white here, i don't think he is comming to work in the black market as a english teacher or aupair, he is comming to work in a finantial area, there is almost no employ in white that don't pay the health insurance and much less in the finantial sector, even if he want he can get back the 15% of the credit card abroad or internet in dollars payment throught credit card and pay a much bigger health or life insurance if he chose with the remaining of his declared profit tax without impact in his net sallary as is "deducible de impuesto a las ganancias" . (yes i'm accountant but anybody can do this, there is no need of been an accountant or get one in order to do this)
He have another plus he can send money back to his family or girl friend bank account at oficial rate + 6-7% with a white employ as i do to travel and have dollars outside and some others are doing as well in this forum, so he don't need to buy black dollars to go outside or if he really want he can even bring back this dollars and get more money and continue the circle.

If we are talking of a black sallary then we are talking of a total diferent think, still i think you can live well on 12-15 black sallary just need to add some more expenses.

Anyway the car for the beach trips is not bad for a family but i think that is just more easy to not have it and take a bus specially if you are alone as driving to the beach by car is more expensive than take the bus unless you travel with more people.

 

[PhilipDT]

The benefit of a car is if you have to make any regular trips that don't fit into the cozy little hub spoke design of this city's transportation infrastructure, or you want to go mountain biking, paragliding, horseback riding etc on weekends/weekly feriado

 

[citygirl]

Some people don't live downtown and/or have kids so a car is a necessity I would prefer not to have one at all but sadly that's not an option.

If you're living in town, the biggest variable/expense is going to be your rent. Sin/Con guarantia, furnished/non-furnished.